1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the control of audio and/or video replay, to replay controllers, and to audio and/or video reproducing devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, computer-based video replay systems have become available, in which a recorded video signal is replayed to an area or window of a computer""s display screen. The source of the video signal may be, for example, a video tape recorder (VTR), the computer""s hard disk or a CD-ROM.
Various attempts have been made to simulate, with the computer""s standard user controls, the operational controls of a VTR. These operational controls generally include xe2x80x9cplayxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cstopxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cpausexe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9crewindxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cfast forwardxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cjogxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cshuttlexe2x80x9d (fast wind in either direction while replaying) etc.
For example, in one previously proposed system a standard Microsoft Windows 3.1 operating system xe2x80x9cscroll barxe2x80x9d has been used to give an indication of the current temporal position within a sequence to be replayed. The user can move the scroll bar during replay to shuttle forwards or backwards through the sequence.
In another previously proposed system small versions of the standard VTR controls are reproduced as control buttons on the video screen, for operation by the user with a mouse or similar cursor control device (e.g. a trackerball or joystick).
It is a constant aim to make the user controls of systems such as computerbased replay controllers more efficient and easier to use.
This invention provides apparatus for controlling replay of video and/or audio material, the apparatus comprising:
cursor control means for providing user control of a cursor on the display screen;
selection control means for selecting an operation to be performed by the apparatus in dependence on the current position of the cursor on the display screen when the selection control means is activated by the user;
means for defining a shuttle control display screen area for use in controlling shuttle replay operation;
means for detecting an initial activation of the selection control means while the cursor is at an initial activation point within the shuttle control display screen area; and
means, responsive to the detecting means, for controlling shuttle replay of the recorded material at a shuttle speed dependent on a current displacement on the display screen of the cursor from the initial activation point while the selection control means remains continuously activated after the initial activation.
The invention addresses the technical problem of using a computer-based user interface (e.g. the Microsoft Windows-type interface) to control the operations of a VTR. A particularly convenient control technique is employed in which, in embodiments of the invention, the user initiates a mouse xe2x80x9cdragxe2x80x9d operation by pressing and holding the mouse button anywhere within a shuttle control display area of the display screen. The speed of shuttle operation is then controlled by the computer to be dependent on the mouse cursor""s current displacement (while the mouse button is held down) from the point on the screen at which the drag operation was started. When the mouse is then released, it is preferred that shuttle operation at that speed is maintained, although of course in other embodiments shuttle operation could be terminated when the button is released.
Thus, the area on the screen in which the user has to locate the cursor to initiate shuttle control can be made relatively large, since the accuracy of control does not depend on the precise screen cursor location at which the mouse button is first pressed (as it would if the user had to hit typical very small Windows xe2x80x9cbuttonsxe2x80x9d to select a shuttle speed), but simply on the subsequent displacement from that initial position. Especially where, for example, the computer is a portable or notebook computer (which typically has a relatively small and xe2x80x9claggyxe2x80x9d screen making cursor positioning relatively difficult), this technical step can provide much greater accuracy of shuttle control by the user.
Separate screen areas could be provided to initiate forward and reverse shuttle control, but in an advantageously simple-to-use embodiment, the direction (as well as the displacement) of the cursor from the initial activation position is detected, and the direction of shuttle operation selected in dependence on that detection. For example, a horizontal component of the displacement of the cursor from the initial activation position could be detected; if that component is negative (i.e. the cursor is to the screen-left of its initial activation position) then reverse shuttle operation is selected; otherwise, forward shuttle operation is selected.
Although the invention would be very useful to control audio playback alone, it is preferred that the material to be replayed is video material (with or without accompanying audio material).
For further ease of use it is preferred that the display screen has a viewer area currently allocated (or pre-allocated) for displaying replayed video material, and that the shuttle control display screen area substantially coincides with that viewer area. This provides highly instinctive control for the user, in that the user first has to move the mouse cursor to the viewer area where he will see the shuttle-replayed video. The user then has only one screen area to concentrate on (the viewer area); the viewer are provides both the area on which the user sees the shuttling video pictures and the area for using the cursor to control the shuttle replay operation.
This also allows the range of shuttle speed available from a particular replay device currently under control to be used to scale the operation of the controlling means so that, for example, the full range of shuttle speed is represented by the movement of the cursor on the screen by a distance equal to the width of the viewer area.
This invention also provides audio and/or video replay apparatus comprising:
an audio and/or video storage device; and
replay control apparatus as defined above.
This invention also provides a method of controlling replay of video and/or audio material, for use with an apparatus comprising cursor control means for providing user control of a cursor on the display screen; and selection control means for selecting an operation to be performed by the apparatus in dependence on the current position of the cursor on the display screen when the selection control means is activated by the user; the method comprising the steps of:
defining a shuttle control display screen area for use in controlling shuttle replay operation;
detecting an initial activation of the selection control means while the cursor is at an initial activation point within the shuttle control display screen area; and
controlling shuttle replay of the recorded material at a shuttle speed dependent on a current displacement on the display screen of the cursor from the initial activation point while the selection control means remains continuously activated after the initial activation.